Denis Gauthier

Denis Gauthier fell in love with basketball in elementary school. Now there is hardly a team in the region that Denis hasn’t coached. The lead assistant coach with the Sudbury Five in their 2024-25 championship year, Gauthier has over 33 years of experience guiding athletes on and off the court. In 2023, an accident led to his right leg being amputated below the knee, a situation that has led Denis to more basketball coaching opportunities. He current is an assistant coach with the Rolling Thunder Wheelchair basketball team.

Notable Highlights:

• Served as head coach of 18 SDSSAA and NOSSA championship teams
• Coached the Lasalle Secondary School senior girls to the 2013 and 2015 OFSAA championships (2013 Consolation Champs)
• Graduated from E.S. Macdonald-Cartier and Laurentian University
• Won the 2017 Male School Sport Ontario Coaching Excellence Award
• Served 20-plus years convening SDSSAA boys’ basketball and as a co-convener of several OFSAA championships (including badminton and basketball)
• Coached Sudbury Jam (2019 – 4th place – Division I U15)
• Served on the organizing committee of the 2010 Ontario Summer Games in Sudbury

A gym rate from his early days, Denis honed his approach to coaching with mentors of the local high school basketball scene, including Jim Hann, Mitch Lalonde, Len Thompson and Jack Valiots, and at Laurentian University, Peter Campbell. Denis and his wife, Rebecca, have a daughter, Vanessa. Denis credits his father Ron with instilling a love of sports, including the Montreal Expos and the Canadiens.